The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has gotten permission from the Federal High Court in Abuja to freeze 86 accounts of some companies and individuals over their alleged involvement in fraudulent foreign exchange (FOREX) activities.
CBN says these activities are negatively affecting the value of the Naira.
The request was filed by former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, on behalf of the CBN.
The affected companies include Risevest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Tech. Ltd., CTL/Business Expenses and Trove Technologies Limited.
Others are Chayomi Multi Services Limited, Ningbo Excel Enterprises Limited and Dagang Enterprises. Also, some of the frozen accounts belong to individuals.
The order from the Federal High court empowers the CBN to direct heads of Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Access Bank and VFD Microfinance Bank to freeze transactions on the 86 accounts for a minimum period of 90 days.
The accounts will remain frozen pending the outcome of the investigation and inquiry currently being conducted by the CBN.
The CBN accused the companies of contravening its directive issued in July 2015 by using the foreign exchange sourced from the Nigerian market to purchase foreign bonds/shares, therefore undercutting the strength of the naira against the dollar.
The apex bank also accused the firms of operating as asset management companies without obtaining appropriate licencing. In an affidavit submitted to the court by the senior supervisor of the CBN, Christiana Gyang, the apex bank investigated the activities of the defendants and determined their alleged involvement in illegal dealings in FOREX.
She stated that the investigation showed that the companies violated Nigeria’s trading laws including dealing in cryptocurrency.
Gyang in her deposition said that the CBN discovered serious infractions by the defendants in connection with some foreign exchange transactions.
“That more specifically, there is a grave allegation that the defendants/respondents are engaged in illegal foreign exchange transactions, accessing/procuring of foreign exchange ‘via their banks from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange ‘Market via several bureaux de change, International Money Transfer Operators and have transferred cash deposit of more than $10,000.00 (Ten thousand dollars) to various accounts overseas contrary to provisions of extant laws and regulations and also traded in foreign securities and cryptocurrencies in contravention to CBN ‘Circular referenced TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/012.
“The aforesaid transactions undertaken by the defendants using their bank accounts has caused and is causing significant financial loss to members of the public if left unchecked to mitigate the likelihood of reputation /legal risk on the bank.”
